


Mountains of Chocolate (A Valentine's Story)

by ibwho



Series: Noblesse Scenes [3]
Category: Noblesse (Manhwa)
Genre: Chocolate, Fluff, Gen, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 23:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29444334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ibwho/pseuds/ibwho
Summary: It is springtime at Ye Ran high school. Nobles and modified humans alike prepare to experience their first ever Valentine’s Day!
Series: Noblesse Scenes [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2074638
Comments: 6
Kudos: 41





	Mountains of Chocolate (A Valentine's Story)

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine’s day!  
> I tried to start writing this one a little earlier, and it ran away with me again.... >.>  
> I hope you enjoy it!  
> Another mountain of thanks to misslambyy for being my sanity check and beta reader!

“Frankenstein, is there a threat to the school?”

It was a normal evening in Frankenstein’s manor.  
Regis dried dishes as M-21 and Takeo washed them while Seira put away the food. Frankenstein had just given Raizel his after-dinner cup of sugar cubes soaked in tea, when Rai asked this question.

Frankenstein paused while setting down a plate of cookies and racked his brain. _Was there something amiss at school? Had there been an incident he’d overlooked?_ He glanced at Tao who shook his head and shrugged. _So Tao hadn’t noticed anything either_ ?   
  
Frankenstein straightened and turned to face his Master.   
  
“What makes you believe there is a threat?”

Rai elegantly placed his cup of sweet tea onto its saucer.   
  
“The students are… restless.” he pronounced, raising ruby eyes to look up at Frankenstein standing before him.

“Restless?”

“Ah, I know what you mean.” Regis replied, crossing his arms and nodding sagely.   
  
“You do?” asked M-21 skeptically.

“Indeed. The students have been whispering in groups lately. They stare at people as they walk past and appear to be encouraging each other to take some action. I hear many students are being summoned to duels after school. Also, I’ve heard students crying while walking around campus. I believe there has been at least one case where some crass girls were trying to pull each other’s hair out.”

“Ah….!” Frankenstein finally understood. He nodded, crossed his arms and held his chin in one hand. “I suppose it is that time of year again....”

“‘That time of year’?” M-21 asked.

“Every year there are some students who get a bit... emotional around Valentine’s Day.” Frankenstein explained.

“Valentine’s Day?” asked Regis.  
  
“It’s an ancient holiday with somewhat convoluted, possibly morbid origins, but in modern times it is generally considered to be a holiday celebrating love. In recent years, the holiday has been highly commercialized with people exchanging gifts on Valentine’s day, most commonly chocolate. Although Valentine’s gifts can be given to express friendship, appreciation or admiration for the other person, many times special homemade gifts are given to a romantic love interest.

That’s why the students have been so on edge. It’s become somewhat of a tradition to confess your feelings to someone by giving gifts or chocolate around Valentine’s day. The ‘duel’ summons to meet people after school that you’ve noticed are probably students trying to find a bit of private time to express their feelings to someone. 

Of course, those feelings may not always be reciprocated, hence the crying Regis heard… Additionally the pressure to find a partner can lead to severe depression or fights among friends, especialy if they like the same person. 

It’s a bit of a headache every year trying to balance encouraging the students to have fun and experience the joys and trials of youth while also avoiding any major incidents. If the students are extra agitated this year, I’ll need to send another reminder to the teachers… Of course, sometimes the staff have their own personal issues, so I’d appreciate it if Tao, Takeo and M-21 could keep an eye out as well.” Frankenstein said glancing up at the trio.  
  
“You got it Boss!” saluted Tao while M-21 and Takeo gravely nodded, still wearing their pink aprons and dish washing gloves.

“So, making chocolate is related to this ‘Valentine’s Day’, then?” Seira asked Frankenstein.

“Some people choose to make their own chocolate gifts, yes.” replied Frankenstein. 

“Can you teach me?”

Everyone turned to look at Seira. Regis wore an expression somewhere between shock, confusion and horror. 

“... Certainly. What sort of chocolate are you trying to make?” Frankenstein asked after an awkward silence.

“I’m not sure. Yuna and Suyi invited me to their house this weekend to ‘make chocolates’. If giving chocolates is important to them, I would like to practice beforehand.”

Regis looked immensely relieved and Frankenstein smiled.

“I see. As expected, Seira is very diligent! If it’s something you’d like to make with the other girls, then I can teach you an easy chocolate cookie recipe as well as how to make some simple truffles. You can roll the base truffle in different toppings to customize it for the person you want to give them to. Shall we buy some ingredients tomorrow?”  
  
Seira nodded solemnly.   
  
“That would be good. Thank you.”

“Anytime.” 

***********************

Ye Ran high school was one of the most prestigious schools in the city and hundreds of students attended it. With so many people interacting, there are always bound to be a few small incidents.

Tao, Takeo and M-21 were sitting around a table drinking canned coffee while enjoying the sunshine on their break. Tao stretched towards the sky and let his arms flop behind his chair.  
  
“Well, the Chairman was right that things got a bit busier this week. Good work you two!” 

“What was the incident in the home ec class yesterday?” M-21 asked Takeo.  
  
“Oh that. Some students were baking chocolate cookies. The oven was set too high and some of the chocolate on the tray started burning. When they opened the oven the smoke triggered the fire alarm.” Takeo replied. “How about you? Heard you had to break up another fight?”   
  
“Sort of. The two guys hadn’t come to blows. They were mostly just grabbing each other’s shirts and shouting. I marched them both to the teacher’s office to receive their punishment.” M-21 replied. “Speaking of which, I heard you had to mediate some argument between a couple teachers, Tao?”

“Uuug.. haha. I guess teachers and students have similar problems sometimes. I just happened to overhear some invalid rumors, and be in a position to clear up some misunderstandings.”

“You didn’t use any private data for that right?” Takeo asked. “Not sure how the Boss would react to invading his employee’s privacy.”  
  
“Nah, this is all public data. I just remembered it because I ran some basic background checks on everyone at the school when I first joined.”

“.... and you still remember ALL that information about everyone?” M-21 asked.  
  
“Of course not! But if I know their name I can bring up my notes.” Tao replied. 

“DA-5 had a lot of special missions to destabilize governments and cause misunderstandings or wars that were favorable to the Union. I got pretty skilled at finding weak points in organizations, especially weaknesses in people relations, internal databases or security systems. Turns out being able to find those weak points means you can fix them to make the organization stronger… Unfortunately it’s much more difficult to make weak points stronger than it is to just break them.”

Tao leaned forward resting his head on a fist. 

“I gotta say I’m impressed. The Chairman has built a really strong foundation for this school, there aren’t many weaknesses to exploit. I just tried to strengthen one of the few that I found. It’s thanks to him I get to use my skills to promote peace instead of war.”

The three security guards looked out across the campus at the kids playing soccer on the field and running around the track.

“Yeah. I’m grateful too. As an expendable agent, I never thought I’d be able to live this long, much less have a normal job.” M-21 said.

“Should we do something to show our appreciation?” asked Takeo. The other two turned to look at him.  
  
“Like what?” asked M-21.   
  
“Well, does Frankenstein like chocolate?” 

*************************************************

“Wow Seira! You are really good at this!” Yuna exclaimed looking at the perfectly browned cookies on the piping hot tray Seira removed from the oven. 

“You really can do anything, can’t you?” Suyi commented from where she was crushing almonds.  
  
Seira’s cheeks turned very slightly pink with pleased pride.

“I had a good teacher.” she stated calmly.

“Your idea to melt the chocolate inside a bowl on top of boiling water to avoid burning it was also brilliant! When I tried to make chocolates last year I burned several batches.” Yuna said, taking the bowl of chilled chocolate truffle mixture out of the refrigerator.

“Frankenstein taught me that. He is very skilled at heating ingredients to precise temperatures.” 

“The Chairman is really admirable. Not only did he create the best school in the city and make it affordable for everyone, but he also cooks delicious meals and takes care of his distant family members. His looks are top-notch as well.” Suyi commented lining up the different bowls of toppings. Crushed almonds, plain cocoa powder, powdered sugar, sparkling pink sugar crystals and… 

“Yuna, what is this?” Suyi asked, holding up a bowl of red powder.

“Cayenne powder!” 

“... you ... want to roll truffles in chili?!” exclaimed Suyi.  
  
“Yeah! I read in a blog that it’s really tasty! And anyway, chili is good for you! It has lots of antioxidants and other health benefits.” replied Yuna reaching into a cupboard and pulling out another empty bowl. 

“I also have one more topping to try.” she continued, reaching for a nearby bag, opening it and dumping the contents into the bowl.

“...P-Potato chips?! Really, Yuna?!” Suyi looked aghast as she watched Yuna crunch the chips into small bits with a spoon. 

“Yup! I heard they are surprisingly good, kind of like sea-salt chocolate.” Yuna replied.

“Hmm. I suppose when you put it like that, it might be okay.” Suyi said, eyeing the bowl of chip crumbs suspiciously. “Who are you planning on giving them to?”  
  
“Well, if they turn out alright I was considering giving them to Mister and the other guards. He-they seem like the type to prefer non-sweet things.” Yuna stuttered, blushing slightly. “If they turn out badly we can just give them to Shinwoo and Ikhan.”

“Haha! You’re right! Even if they turn out well, I think we should make ‘special’ cayenne truffles for Shinwoo and Ikhan with extra chili as payback for playing games without us when buying groceries.”

Yuna laughed.  
  
“YES! Let’s do it!” 

Seira reached out with long delicate fingers and plucked a larger fragment of potato chip out of the bowl and examined it thoughtfully.

***************

“Welcome back, Seira.” Frankenstein called, looking up from the vegetables he’d just finished chopping.

“I’m back.” Seira replied, walking through the empty living room and standing in front of Frankenstein at the counter. “Where is Master Raizel?” 

“Shinwoo and Ikhan dragged him and Regis out to play video games since you and the other girls were busy. How did the chocolate making party go?”  
  
Seira nodded with satisfaction.   
  
“It went well. The others were impressed with your techniques.”

Frankenstein laughed and turned to grab a bottle of oil from the cupboard. 

“If it went well then it’s because you were able to learn the techniques quickly and apply them appropriately. It’s all based on your own effort. Congratulations.”

Seira’s cheeks warmed again and she permitted herself the smallest of smiles behind Frankenstein's back.  
  
“Frankenstein, may I request your assistance again?”

Frankenstein quickly turned around after hearing the serious tone. Still clutching the bottle of oil, he looked at Seira’s solemn face.

“Is something wrong?” he asked.

“I would like to try… an experiment.”

******************************************

Valentine’s day dawned clear and crisp. The air still carried the chill of winter, but the bright blue sky and sun lured you into believing spring warmth had arrived.

Ikhan and Shinwoo met Yuna and Suyi just outside the school gates.

“Wow Yuna and Suyi! That’s a lot of stuff!” Ikhan said.

Shinwoo looked at the large paper bags they were carrying.

“You’re giving out that many valentines?” he asked Yuna.

“Yeah. Seira said she had never celebrated Valentine’s day before, so we ended up going overboard and made all sorts of chocolate treats.” Yuna replied.

“Suyi, is it okay for a popular idol like you to pass out valentine chocolates?” Ikhan asked. “I thought your manager told you to not give anything to anyone to avoid scandals.” 

“It should be fine. These aren’t made just by me, and we’re giving them to the whole class.” Suyi said as they walked through the gate.

Inside, the group of friends saw M-21, Takeo and Tao having a difficult time. 

The three security guards had unconsciously put their backs together and were facing off against a ring of energetic admirers. Lively girls all carrying boxes of different shapes, sizes and colors (though red hearts were the predominant color and shape of the boxes) surrounded them. The old custodian stood leaning on his broom nearby, enjoying the show.

“Really, the thought is quite enough…” Tao was saying to one girl, palms raised to his shoulders in a desperate gesture of refusal. Or was it surrender?

“You’ll be late to class….” Takeo tried telling another.

“We are on duty.” said M-21 to a third. 

Sounds of disappointed protest babbled out from the sea of girls.

“ _...but I made these especially for you…_!”

“ _It’s only some chocolates, the Chairman won’t mind…_ ”

_“I’ve admired you ever since you first started working here…!”_

_“... you’re just so cool!”_

Yuna tightened her grip on her bag of chocolates as she watched the mob in the courtyard.

“Wow. Mister and the Big Bros sure are popular.” Shinwoo said, watching the scene. “Maaan, why can’t I be that popular!”

“Give it up, Shinwoo.” Ikhan said, adjusting his glasses. “They are in a different league of men- looks wise.”

Shinwoo sighed.

“Yeah, you’re right. Although if the Bros are attracting this much attention, what’s going to happen to Rai?”

On cue, shrieks of excitement exploded behind them. A rush of wind swept past the friends as waves of girls, and a few groups of boys, stampeded toward the gate and formed an honor guard corridor leading from the gate to the school entrance. 

Rai strode through the gate, cool and elegant as usual, flanked by the Regis and Seira. 

A lonely winter breeze teased Rai’s jet black bangs and caressed Seira’s long silver hair before regretfully passing on.

The rowdy screams and squeals of the students died down to be replaced with awed murmurs as the elegant trio glided toward the school.

Even the admirers around the security guards froze with outstretched boxes and craned their necks to watch the procession go by. 

About halfway across the courtyard to the school, the spell was broken as a small girl with braided pigtails and glasses stepped out of line as the Nobles approached. She darted in front of them and held out a giant heart shaped box with a pink ribbon stammering, “H-Happy Valentine’s Day Rai! Please accept these chocolates!”

Cadis Etrama Di Raizel stopped and stared down at the trembling girl in front of him while the world held its breath.

Slowly, his gaze shifted from the girl’s bright red face, to the bright red box she proffered.

An eon of seconds later, elegant, pale, fingertips swept up to the box and gently grasped the edge.

The girl stared in shock at the hand holding the other end of the box. Slowly she raised round, wide eyes up to meet the ruby red jewels staring back at her. A delighted grin slowly spread, lighting up her whole face. Happiness bubbled from her entire being. 

“Thank you so much!” she shouted, letting go of the box and scurrying away back into the crowd. _That was odd,_ thought all the security guards, _usually, shouldn’t the one receiving the gift be saying ‘Thank you’?!_

The girl’s retreat broke the spell holding the courtyard. Dozens of people exhaled collectively, finally remembering they had permission to breathe. 

Another girl with long dark hair stepped into the path.  
  
“Um, Rai, if you would like, I made truffles. Would you also accept these?” she muttered, offering a white square box tied with a red ribbon.

Seizing the opportunity, the mass of humanity in the yard flowed towards the Nobles forming a long line in front of them to offer tribute.

“Rai, please take these cookies…!”  
“And these chocolate eclairs…”   
“And these belgian chocolates..” “Here are some more!” “Please accept one more box..!” “...and another!”

“Lady Seira, please accept my undying admiration of your beauty along with these chocolates…”

“Regis, I’ve always admired how cool you are…”  
  
Soon, both of Rai’s arms were full of carefully balanced boxes of chocolate, cookies and other sweets. Regis carried a double armload of packages as well, and Seira had placed her bag of valentines to distribute on the ground in order to balance the load of gifts she received in the crook of her arm.

The first warning bell rang and the students waiting in line jumped. 

“I’ll give mine to you later, Rai!”   
“I”ll look for you at lunch, Rai!”

Many students at the back of the line called as they turned to run to their homeroom class.

Rai stood in the middle of the walkway, still holding a mountain of chocolate boxes.

“If I may, sir.” Seira said, depositing her haul into the large paper bag she had carried to school and pulling out several collapsible bags. “Frankenstein gave these to me this morning as he was leaving. He said they might come in handy.” she explained, opening a bag and swiftly transferring the mountain of sweets into it, carefully picking out packages that would not cause an avalanche to remove first.

“Frankenstein has excellent foresight.” Rai murmured.

Shinwoo and the other kids jogged up to Rai and helped the Nobles pack their gifts into extra bags.

“Allow me, sir.” Regis said snagging three extra bags full of presents so Rai would not have to carry any. Rai nodded at him in thanks, and continued walking up the school steps to class.

Yuna paused a moment, glancing back at M-21 and other guards still trapped by a circle of admirers.

Seira watched Yuna.

“If you stop by the house later, there will be better opportunities.” she stated.

Yuna jumped slightly.

“Huh? What? Oh yes. We were planning on hanging out today anyway. We can give our ‘special’ valentines to Shinwoo and Ikhan then as well.” she turned and hurried after Rai and the others. “Come on Seira! We’ll be late for class!”

**********

The sound of the school bell also broke the spell on the girls holding the trio of security guards hostage. 

“Oh no! That’s the warning bell!”  
  
“Here Mister, please accept this or we’re going to be late to class!”   
  
M-21 sighed. “I already told you… I can’t accept….”

“Of course he’ll accept your gift lovely lady!” boomed an extravagant voice.

A strong hand snagged M-21’s arm, forcing it up and out and swift fingers plucked the girl’s present from her hands and placed it in M-21’s. M-21 stared in surprise at the chocolates he was now holding.

“And here is a gift for milady on this glorious day.” continued the tall pale blond nobleman as he executed an elaborate gesture that magically summoned a burgundy hippolyte rose and tucked the thornless flower behind the girl’s ear.

“Karias?! You’re back?” exclaimed Tao.

“The one and only! As the God of Love and origin of Cupid, I, Karias, Leader of the Blester family have rushed back to my post to celebrate this auspicious holiday of love and devotion with the fair ladies of this school! Yet, what do I find when I arrive?! You three dullards balking at accepting a token of a pure maiden’s feelings! Shame on you!”

“I…” started M-21.

“We..!” stammered Takeo.

“Oh Karius is back!”  
“Haha~ it’s the funny new guard!” laughed the surrounding girls.

Karius turned with a flourish to face them and clapped his hands.

“Come now! Feel free to bestow your gifts of love as you wish! Once you have finished I shall personally escort all you ladies to class and explain the delay to your teachers.”

“Thank you, Karias~!”  
“We love you Karias ~ <3” called the girls as they dumped their chocolates into the stricken trio’s arms before Karias swept them off towards the school in a storm of flurrying rose petals.

The trio of guards stood frozen in the nearly empty courtyard for a few long moments, trying to process what just happened.

Finally Tao laughed awkwardly. “That Karias… still moves at his own pace. Never know what he’ll do next.”

Takeo looked down at the load of presents he was holding.  
“What should we do with all of these?”

“I...can’t accept these.” said M-21 softly. “I don’t deserve them.”

Takeo and Tao glanced up and saw M-21’s conflicted expression as he stared at his gifts, before looking down at their own.

M-21 was right. All of them were once Union agents. They had committed many sins. The blood on their hands was not little by any count. 

What right did they have to accept chocolates from starry-eyed children who knew nothing of their dark past?

“Sure you do!” said a friendly fatherly voice nearby.

The trio jumped, and had to quickly snatch at packets of chocolate as they slid off their stacks.  
M-21 missed a package and it tumbled to the ground.

The elderly janitor ambled over with his broom and amiably picked the small box off the ground.

“True, when you first joined I wondered why the Chairman hired you. Your eyes were cold and distant, and you were so stiff you stuck out in the school like a sore thumb.” the janitor continued as he dusted off the little package. He held it up to catch the light and check for any missed smudges.

“But like I said earlier, you really fit in now. I dunno what you youngsters are looking so glum about, but I’ve seen how you all interact with the students. Your auras have gotten softer and I can tell you really care about them. They all feel safer knowing you are looking out for them, ‘specially with all those weird cases happening around the neighborhood lately…I’ve even seen students from other schools hanging around the gates to get a peek at you. The ‘elite, handsome, security force’ are now a vital part of Ye Ran high school’s image. You should be proud! 

Every day as you patrol the grounds, dozens of students call out to you... and I can see the wide smile on their faces when they hear you respond. Listening to some of those girls talk, it’s the highlight of their day! I’ve even heard a few say they started getting to school early just to be able to talk to you all at the gate before class. 

Someday, those girls are gonna grow up and have daughters of their own. And when those daughters get to high school and start worrying about giving valentine chocolates, they’ll tell them the story of today and the strong, handsome security guards they once gave valentines to. 

So I say, you deserve a bit of chocolate to be a spark of light in a young girl’s life.” finished the custodian as he gently placed the box of chocolate on M-21’s stack of presents. 

“At least, that’s what a rambling old man thinks.” he said, leaning his cheek against his broomstick and grinning up at the guards.

M-21 bowed his head and clutched his teetering tower of gifts. 

“Thank you, sir.” he said softly. 

“No problem. It’s my job.” the janitor grinned back at him.

************************************************

The final bell of the day rang and Shinwoo lifted his head off his arms and stretched before slumping back in his chair. He snuck a glance over at Yuna who was packing her bags and sighed. Watching Shinwoo out of the corner of his eye, Ikhan also sighed and bopped a notebook on Shinwoo’s head.

“Come on slowpoke. We’re headed to the Chairman’s house today, remember?” Ikhan chided packing his notebook into his backpack.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” Shinwoo said swinging his bag over his shoulder.   
  
Yuna and Suyi sauntered over to the boys’ desks. 

“Ready to go?” Yuna asked them.

“Yup!” chirped Ikhan. “Rai, did you want help carrying all your chocolates? Shinwoo and I can help.”

Rai stood up and glanced down at the small pile of bags near his feet.

He nodded.

Shinwoo and Ikhan both grabbed a bag, Regis took two, and the friends trooped out of the classroom.  
  
In the hallway leading to the exit they came across the security guards making their rounds.

“Hey Mister!” called Ikhan waving his free hand. 

M-21 looked over.   
  
“Ah, Ikhan. Everyone’s here I see. Are you heading to the Chairman’s house?

“Yup! Headed there now.” replied Yuna brightly. “Are you coming?”

“Have fun! We’ll be along after we finish up work here.” Tao said leaning on M-21’s shoulder.

“It shouldn’t take us long.” Takeo added.

“Sounds great! We’ll see you later then!” chirped Yuna, waving goodbye as the girls continued walking forward.

“See ya!” said Tao.

Shinwoo watched Yuna walk away and sighed again.

“Hmm..? Shinwoo, is something wrong?” Tao asked.

“Oh he’s just sulking cause the girl he likes gave valentine chocolates to everyone in the class today” Ikhan said matter-of-factly.   
  
“HEY! What are you saying?!” exclaimed Shinwoo, grabbing Ikhan in a headlock.

“Oh right. Shinwoo was asking about love advice that one day…” M-21 said.

“Shinwoo, Ikhan, are you coming?!” called Suyi from beyond the building entrance.  
  
“Coming!” Shinwoo hollered back, dragging the headlocked Ikhan towards the door. “Mister, Bros, we’ll see you at the house later!”

“See you later! Be careful on your way back!” Tao called after him.

**************************************

When Frankenstein and all the security guards got off work and arrived home, they found the kids playing games with Rai in the living room. As always, the table was strewn with littered snack wrappings and crumbs spilled everywhere. This time, chocolate wrappers were in heavy abundance. Three boxes of chocolates lay open on the table and another two empty box shells were shoved under it.

Ikhan stopped explaining the rules of the next game when he saw the adults had arrived.

“Chairman, you’re back! Welcome home!”

Frankenstein eyed the bags stuffed with unopened boxes and presents lying in heaps around the table.

“We’re back. What’s with all the bags?” Frankenstein asked.

“Oh those? Those are all Rai’s valentine presents!” Shinwoo explained. “Well, not _all_ of them, some of them were for Regis and Seira… but most of them are for Rai. It was crazy! Not only did he receive a huge armful of presents the moment he stepped through the gate, but when we got to the classroom there was a huge mountain of presents waiting on Rai’s desk! When he sat down, you couldn’t even see him behind all the chocolate boxes!”   
  
“Yeah, it was wild!” continued Ikhan. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone receive that many gifts. Not even Suyi has received that many presents at one time!”

“Hey! I don’t usually receive gifts at school anyway!” protested Suyi. “But yeah, I’ve only seen piles of presents like that for the really famous actors at work. They always get these really fancy chocolates and bouquets.”

“Oh! Speaking of special chocolates…” Yuna said, clapping her hands together, “now that the Chairman and Big Brothers are back, we can pass out the rest of the valentine chocolates!” Yuna, Suyi and Seira all stood up and went to their bags.

“Here you go!” Yuna said, handing packages to Shinwoo and Ikhan. “Here are special chocolates just for you!” 

Shinwoo looked surprised. “Just for us? You gave away all those cookies today, and you still have more?”

“Yes. These are truffles we made. They took longer and were more complicated, so we’re only giving them to people we’re close to.” Suyi explained. “These are for you! Thank you for always letting us come over!” she bowed as she handed a decorated box to Frankenstein. 

“Of course.” Frankenstein replied smiling. “Thank you for always trying to keep the boys in line.”

Suyi laughed.

“And these are for Rai….” she said blushing slightly as she handed another box to Rai. “I hope you like them!”  
  
Rai gracefully accepted the box and nodded thanks to Suyi who blushed harder.

“Mister, these are for you!” Yuna said, offering another box to M-21. “We were experimenting with different toppings, so I hope you like them.”

“Tao, Takeo.” Seira murmured, offering them each a box.

“Woohoo! We get some too? Thanks Seira!” Tao said grinning as he accepted.  
  
“Thanks Seira.” Takeo echoed.

Seira nodded.

“Regis.” She stated, handing him his box.

Regis solemnly accepted it. “Thank you.”

Suyi rummaged around in her bag again and brought out a tupperware.

“Sorry Karias, we didn’t know you’d be back so we didn’t make a special package for you. But here are some of the extra truffles we made if you would like to try some!” she said, offering the box of truffles to Karias.

“Ah, how fortunate am I to be able to sample the divine efforts of such sweet maidens!” Karias proclaimed, fingertips sweeping his errant bangs from his eyes.  
  
“It’s… nothing that fancy.” Suyi muttered blushing again.

“Nonsense! Any item imbued with the feelings of love from-”

Karias’s monologue was suddenly cut off by a loud choking sound behind Suyi.

Shinwoo was doubled over coughing. Ikhan had sweat dripping down his forehead, and his face was red as he desperately fanned his tongue and sucked in air through puckered lips.

“Shinwoo?!! Ikhan?! What’s wrong?!” Frankenstein exclaimed, alarmed.

Wordlessly Shinwoo, reached for his cup of juice and chugged it down.

“Was that truffle… covered in chili?!” he wheezed when he could talk again.

Suyi and Yuna broke out into fits of laughter. 

“Yup!” Suyi chortled, “That’s your punishment for going to play games without us!”

“Everyone got one of the cayenne truffles… it’s actually one of my favorite toppings!” Yuna said, picking a chili truffle out of the open tupperware Suyi held. “You two just got a slightly higher dose of chili than the rest.” she said with a wink and sugar sweet smile as she popped the truffle into her mouth.

“Yeesh, Yuna. That was a lot of chili!” Shinwoo complained, pouring himself another glass of juice.

“Here. Try these. It may help.” Seira stated, handing Shinwoo another package of chocolates.

“Huh?” Shinwoo asked, opening the box and finding perfectly rounded truffles.

“Oooooh. Shinwoo you are lucky! Seira’s truffles definitely came out the best.” Yuna called over to him.  
  
“Oh.” Shinwoo said, nonplussed. He stared down at the perfect little truffles for a moment and then shot a bright grin back at Seira. “Thanks Seira!”

“You’re welcome.” Seira let the smallest sparkling smile show through her usual stoic expression.

Although the heat from the chili had faded, Shinwoo suddenly felt his face grow even hotter than before, so he quickly stuffed it with chocolate.

*****************************  
  
The kids left after dinner with Karias escorting them home, while Regis and Tao began picking up the sparkling detritus of chocolate wrappers covering the floor and coffee table.

After they finished washing the dishes, Takeo turned towards M-21 and Tao.  
  
“Well the kids beat us to gift-giving, but should we hand over ours as well?”   
  
M-21 shrugged and nodded.   
  
“Alright! I’ll grab it from my room then!” Tao chirruped and skipped to his room. He returned a moment later with two large, elegantly wrapped gold boxes and handed one to M-21.

“Here Boss! It’s not homemade, but this is for you!” Tao said, presenting the other box to Frankenstein with a flourish.  
  
Frankenstein looked surprised as he took the golden box.   
  
“What’s this?”   
  
“Tao, Takeo and I were talking the other day, and we wanted to thank you for hiring us and letting us live here.” M-21 explained.   
  
“Valentine's Day was coming up so chocolate was on the brain… and we kinda just ran with it.” Takeo continued.

“Originally, I wanted to get that fancy chocolate with the naked lady on the horse.” Tao said, “but the shop was closed. We did a bit of research and this brand had good reviews too.”

Frankenstein laughed.  
  
“We shall have to try them later.”

M-21 turned to Rai.  
  
“This is for you.” he said, “Thank you for… everything.”

Rai looked at the golden box without moving. 

“I have only done what I thought was right.”

“Even so, we are grateful.” Takeo said coming to stand next to M-21. Tao stood on M-21’s other side.

Ruby eyes scanned across the three faces before him.

Then Rai nodded and a pale elegant hand reached up to accept the golden box.

****

Frankenstein smiled behind the trio, his head cocked to one side, the corner of the golden package tapping the corner of his mouth.

“That reminds me… Seira, is now a good time to present ‘that’?”

The trio of modified humans turned and exchanged quizzical looks.

Seira nodded and headed towards the fridge.

Frankenstein handed her a plate before he refilled the teapot to put on the table.

After taking some covered containers from the fridge Seira carefully removed the contents and placed it on the plate. She dipped a spoon in a jar and carefully drizzled the sauce over the plate. After adding a few items from another container, she nodded in satisfaction. She glanced up at Frankenstein who walked over to inspect her work and smiled.

“Looks great, Seira.”  
  
Carefully, Seira picked up the plate and brought it over to the table where Rai was sipping tea and placed it in front of him, along with a small silver fork.

“Happy Valentine’s Day.” she stated.

Rai’s ruby red eyes widened.  
  
On the plate lay a [ nest of ramen ](https://www.cbc.ca/stevenandchris/m_food/egg-nests), baked into a heart shaped bowl. Elegant lines of chocolate sauce criss crossed the crispy ramen container. Inside the bowl, mounds of round chocolate truffles were coated with squiggly, crispy bits. Some truffles had little spears of noodle poking through the edges of the chocolate sphere.

Entranced, Rai picked up the little fork and speared a ball of crunchy chocolate. After he gazed at the little ball for a long moment, Rai finally placed it in his mouth.  
  
The quiet little crunch of crispy noodles, and squeak of chocolate on teeth were the only sounds that could be heard.

“Do you like it, Master?” asked Frankenstein.

Rai nodded and skewered another little ball of chocolate. Frankenstein smiled as the crunching continued.   
  
“It was Seira’s idea. She said that she was inspired by the potato chip truffles that Yuna made.” he said.

“Frankenstein helped me make them.” Seira added.

“I didn’t do much. Just helped experiment on how to keep the ramen crunchy.”

“You also made the bowl.”

“Ah. Right. That was a fun little application of our experiments.”

There was a crackling, popping sound as Rai carefully cut off a bite-sized portion of the ramen bowl with his fork. Then louder crunching sounds as he chewed.

Frankenstein’s smile widened.   
  
“If anyone else would like to try, I believe we have some leftover prototypes from the early experiments.”

Seira nodded.  
  
M-21 huffed a laugh. “Heh. Sure, I’ll try this experiment.”

“Me too!” chimed Tao.

“Count me in.” agreed Takeo.

M-21 fetched more plates while Seira and Frankenstein brought out the extra tupperware and sauce containers. Seira placed small cupcake sized baskets of ramen, all varying shades of brown, onto dishes and drizzled chocolate sauce on them. Meanwhile Frankenstein added truffles to the already plated ramen baskets.

Karias returned from escorting the kids home just in time to join the family sitting down for dessert. 

***********

As they were finishing up the second round of dishes, Karias asked M-21 and the others,

“What are you going to give the ladies as return gifts?”

“Return gifts?” asked M-21 confused.  
  
“Yes! I hear from the ladies at school that it is a custom of this country. One month after you receive a valentine from someone, you are supposed to give a return gift. I believe they called it ‘White Day’.” said Karias

Takeo turned to Tao. “Do you know about this?”

Tao rubbed his chin thinking. “Not really, but now that Karias mentioned it, I think I might have overheard some girls talking about it…?”

M-21 looked at the other two.  
  
“Do… either of you know everyone who gave you chocolates?” he asked them.

“....No.” Takeo replied. 

“....Nope. Definitely not.” Tao agreed. “Some of them were left anonymously in the guard’s break room too, they just wrote our names, not theirs…”

“Fear not! I can guide you to all the ladies who gifted you items in my presence.” Karias declared.

“You remember all those girls?!” asked Tao incredulously.

“Of course! I have made it my goal to learn every lady’s name in Ye Ran high school! Have no fear, I shall let you know every maiden’s name so you can return every gift.”

“‘Return every gift….’” Tao muttered under his breath. He turned to M-21 and Takeo with an anxious look. “How much salary do you have left?” 

“Er…”

“Um…”

The three companions fell into a concerned, contemplative silence.

**************

As the three modified humans fretted about the state of their wallets in a month, Frankenstein stood with his arms crossed, surveying the mountains of chocolate piled on, and around, the living room coffee table. 

He had known his Master would be popular of course, but the amount of presents Master had received still exceeded his expectations. The students of Ye Ran High were braver than he thought, or his Master was fitting in at school better than he had realized.

Seira and Regis had also both raked in more chocolates than expected, and the trio of security guard’s popularity couldn’t be denied. Frankenstein himself always received at least one or two bags of chocolates from various staff and enterprising students….

Even taking into account how many people were in the family, and that the kids would be eating some when they came over to play games, there were still too many sweets to be healthily consumed in a reasonable amount of time.   
  
Frankenstein tapped a finger on his jaw. _Hmm...What to do…?_

_Ah. Yes._

“Karias, when are you returning to Lukadonia?” Frankenstein called over his shoulder, interrupting his lively conversation with M-21 and the others.

Karias turned to Frankenstein.

“Since I just returned to the human realm today and there doesn’t seem to be any pressing matters in Lukedonia at the moment, I figured I’d take my time and-”

Frankenstein nodded.

“You’ll be returning to Lukedonia tomorrow.”

“...What?!”

Cadis Etrama Di Raizel quietly sipped his tea.

********************

“Yo, Sis. I’m back!” Karias announced as he strode up the hallway lined with other nobles to kneel before the throne.

“Karias, you are being disrespectful to the Lord again.” chided Kei, his thick muscled arms crossed over his solid chest. The creases in his scarred face twisted further in disapproval.

“Karias Blerster. Why have you returned so soon?” asked Lord Raskreia, ignoring both the other family leaders’ comments.

“I come bearing gifts from the Noblesse. And the other crazy dude.” Karias replied, lifting the two giant bags he held in each hand.

“What are these?” Raskreia asked.

“Chocolates. To celebrate love and peace and the renewed friendship between Lukedonia, the Noblesse and humans.” he recited. 

Raskreia continued to stare down at Karias. A trickle of sweat formed on his forehead.

“...and because Frankenstein thought they had too many sweets in the house. He told me to go share them with the Lord and other family leaders…” he mumbled under his breath, recalling Frankenstein’s predatory smile as he forced the bags of sweets into Karias’ hands.

“I see.” Raskreia stated flatly.

After a moment of awkward silence, Ludis nervously swiped at his bangs and spoke up.

“Shall we have… ‘tea time’..?” he asked.

The Lord and other family leaders turned to look at him.

Sweating under the pressure of their gazes, he fought the instinct to summon his shield.   
  
“A while back, Rosaria, Kei and I thought it would be fun to have [ ‘tea time’ with all the family leaders ](https://ww2.readnoblesse.com/chapter/noblesse-chapter-370/) after Karias and… and Rajak... returned from the human world.” Ludis hesitated as the memory of [ bidding Rajak goodbye ](https://ww2.readnoblesse.com/chapter/noblesse-chapter-363/) as he left on his final mission flashed through his mind. “After that, we were busy recovering from the combined traitor and werewolf attack, and various other things happened…We never got a chance to have tea with Rajak, but now Karias is back. So I figured.. Maybe…” Ludis’ speech stumbled to a halt. He looked down at the floor dejectedly.

Rosaria gave a small rueful laugh. “I also heard stories of ‘tea time’ from Seira. I would still like to experience it for myself. Even if Karias makes it more of a headache than what Seira described.” she added pushing her glasses up her nose.

Kei nodded. “I would also like to participate in this ‘tea time’” he agreed gruffly.

Raskreia recalled her brief time with Raizel at Frankenstein’s manor. 

“Very well.” she declared. “Let us enjoy the gifts from the Noblesse, and that man, while having ‘tea time.’” 


End file.
